Having replaced the bus with two cabs, they were back on the road and bumbling their way to Carson City.
Grissom was driving the first car, with Nick and Greg. Warrick was in the second, with the girls taking up residence in the back seat.
Halfway there, Warrick cast a glance into the rear view mirror and smiled. Sara had fallen asleep on Catherine's shoulder.
With one hand resting on Sara's knee, Cath glanced up and caught Warrick's eye in the rearview mirror.
"You want to move her?" He asked with a small chuckle.
"No, leave her there." She smiled contentedly, settling back and resuming her staring out of the window.
Warrick laughed again, shaking his head in amusement and turning the music back up.
x X x
After finally arriving at the hotel and getting checked in, they split off into pairs and headed to their assigned rooms, with an agreement to meet in the bar for a well-deserved drink and hot meal in twenty minutes.
The girls sloped wearily into their room, with Catherine making a bee-line for the en-suite bathroom.
Sara moved past the bathroom door and dropped onto the bed nearest the bathroom wall.
Glancing to the side, she started. Inexplicably, she had a perfect view of Catherine examining her tired eyes in the bathroom mirror.
"Cat?" Sara called tentatively, receiving a hummed response. Reaching out, Sara knocked on the glass wall that separated the bathroom and bedroom. Catherine jumped, turning towards the noise and blinked at the sight of Sara sat on the bed in the next room.
Emerging from the bathroom, she walked around to stare at the wall in horror.
"Who in the hell thought that was a good idea?" She asked rhetorically.
Sara raised her eyebrows, electing not to answer.
"I guess we're all going to get really close this weekend, huh?" She half-joked.
"Oh, hell no!" Cath shook her head, not finding it remotely humourous. "No way!"
x X x
"So, you guys have the really cool glass wall between your bed and the toilet, too?" Nick asked sarcastically, dropping into a seat at the table. "I mean, who doesn't want to wake up to that sight, right?"
"Did Ecklie know about that before he booked us in here?" Catherine asked, quirking an eyebrow in Grissom's direction. The rest of the team followed suit, eyeing the boss with suspicion.
Putting his menu down, Gil released a tired sigh. Honestly, he didn't know whether Ecklie was aware of the poor design of the rooms, although he wouldn't be in the slightest surprised if he did. Either way, he wasn't about to admit that now.
"We're all scientists." He said instead. "It's nothing we haven't seen before."
The response was met by a collective scoff.
"Catherine has never seen me in the shower." Sara countered firmly.
To her surprise, Cath shot her a sideways glance.
"Well, that's not entirely true," the blonde frowned softly. "But that's not the point."
"I haven't peed with an audience since I was in kindergarten and I'm not about to start now."Nick interjected before Sara could express her shock at this revelation.
"Not even during your college hazing days, frat boy?" Warrick asked casually, taking a large bite from a bread roll.
The Texan emitted an embarrassed laugh, proving Warrick's joke may not be that far from the truth, but his rebuttal was quickly cut off.
"Enough." Grissom held up his hands to silence the conversation. "If you have a problem with it, you'll just have to stand in the hall while the other one uses the bathroom. Now, order some food."
The chatter slowly disintegrated to a chorus of dissatisfied grumbles while the team buried themselves in the menus.
Greg leant to the side, close to Sara's ear.
"At least when I saw you in the shower, you knew I was there." He whispered cheekily. Sara cast her narrowed eyes slowly towards him. She said nothing, but the look was sufficient for him to quickly remove himself from her personal space.
x X x
"Well, it's comfier than the couch." Catherine commented breezily, settling herself in the bed beside Sara, who was already sat up against the headboard with a contemplative scowl on her face.
"What you said earlier," the younger CSI queried at last as Cath fidgeted beside her. "You weren't serious, were you?
"About what?" She asked, tying her blonde hair back into a loose ponytail.
"About having seen me in the shower."
Catherine stared at her for a few seconds, before a bright laugh bubbled out of her at the cautious look on her friend's face.
"Is that why you've been so quiet all night?" She asked amidst her giggles.
"It's not funny." Sara scowled. "Were you joking or not?"
"No." Cath answered. At Sara's incredulous look, her laughter bubbled up again. "What, we do share a shower room at work, you know?"
"You're bluffing." Sara speculated, albeit uncertainly.
"Am I?" Catherine grinned, leaning closer. "If that's true, how would I know that you have a tattoo of tweetie pie on your butt?"
Sara's head shot up, her eyes wide.
A bright giggle erupted out of the older woman at the look on her face. Sara stuck her pet lip out petulantly, electing to ignore the comment. However, Cath was not going to let her get away with that.
"Now that you know that I know," She said coyly. "I have to ask – why do you have a tattoo of tweetie pie on your butt?"
"No." Sara answered instantly. "I do not tell that story without at least three tequila shots."
"So noted." Catherine grinned, switching off the lamp and settling down. She lay still for a moment, before another thought crept into her mind.
"I'm curious." She rolled over, facing her colleague in the darkness. "Why does this bother you so much, after everything else that I've learned about you recently?"
Sara seemed to think about this for a moment, before offering a small shrug.
"I don't know." She conceded. "It just does."
Catherine laughed softly to herself at this response.
"You know something, kiddo?" She asked light-heartedly. "No matter how hard I try, I don't think I'll ever quite understand you."
"Yet you keep trying." Sara pointed out in an equally blasé tone. Cath hummed to herself in agreement.
"That's the fun part."